The Hindu Business Line : Minister to hold meeting on Pampa Action Plan

TO speed up implementation of the Pampa Action Plan, Mr Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, State Irrigation Minister, has called a meeting by the month-end.

The Minister told Business Line that the Centre had sanctioned 13 schemes to be implemented in the first phase of the Rs 319-crore river conservation project and the State Government has already initiated action to implement the schemes.

In view of the Sabarimala pilgrimage (which is to begin on November 16) and the benefits the Pathanamthitta district will receive, the project will be implemented within a time-frame, Mr Radhakrishnan said.

All issues including the setting up of a Pampa River Basin Development Authority will be discussed in the meeting likely to be held on September 28, he said.

Mr Radhakrishnan said he had automatically become the Chairman of the monitoring committee following his induction as the Irrigation Minister.

The National River Conservation Directorate, under the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, approved the project involving an expenditure of Rs 18.45 crore in the first phase. It also sanctioned the Centre's 70 per cent share of Rs 12.90 crore.

The allocation was for carrying out 13 pollution abatement works at Sabarimala and Pampa. The Centre also paid Rs 75 lakh to the State Government in March 2004 as an advance.

The Government in November 2003 selected the Kerala Water Authority as the nodal agency for project implementation. It accorded sanction for implementing seven works by the Travancore Devaswom Board, four by the water authority and two by the Irrigation department.

The Pampa Parirakshana Samithi took up the project issue with the Irrigation Minister saying that "it is high time to set up a nodal authority to implement the integrated Pampa Action Plan (PAP) and the Vembanadu Lake Conservation Plan, through an act of Kerala Legislative Assembly."

It also proposed constituting a Pampa River Basin Development Authority to prepare detailed project reports for all components including the sanctioned river-cleaning programme, and to implement PAP as a model project in the State.

"In the absence of such an authority and a department to look into the issues related to environment, implementation of PAP might become a non-starter for want of proper co-ordination and involvement of the concerned departments, despite the Centre having sanctioned its share of funds," Mr N.K. Sukumaran Nair, General Secretary, Pampa Parirakshana Samithi, told Business Line.

Mr Nair alleged that the State Government was still to submit a detailed project report for the entire project.

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